How I setup my Roof Top Tent

[goathearder]

Hey Guys,
I got a Roof Top Tent from Tepui tents a while back and have just been using it on my daily for the last couple of months for easy trips with the wife.

I have been wanting to figure out a way to get it on the Blazer for a while and I finally came up with an idea that I put into play last weekend and I wanted to share it.

First of all, I run a soft top so obviously mounting it to the top wants a good idea. I toyed with the idea of a ladder rack that mounts under a topper for a normal truck or even fabricating a roof rack that looked similar but decided that would be too much of a pain with the soft top and I didn't want the roof tent that high.

In the end, I settled on bringing the tent down into the truck with the bottom just above the bed rails so it can fold out with the top off.

Here are a few pictures I snapped of it after I got the work done and I'll snap some more pictures of what I did after this weekend when I take the tent out.

 

[herkdriver007]

I guess that's Cali for ya...camping outside office buildings

 

[goathearder]

Hahahaha. Yea. That was my "test" deployment. Not enough space at my townhouse complex.

 

[big reaper]

which model tent is that. i like how it fits under the soft top

 

[COCHEV]

I sooooo want one of those. looks awesome man

 

[munepit]

Sweet!!! That will keep little creatures away!!!

 

[Smokinthehippies]

Can you still deploy the soft top over that? It looks like some of the soft top support has to be removed to make it work? Either way I like the low profile look and I bet functionally it's gotta be sweet

 

[Blue85]

I like this solution, but wonder how you keep the water out of the interior when it rains. I've always liked RTTs on pickup beds because of the low profile. On top of SUV roofs, they seem to get beat on by every trail-side tree. I assume the soft-top still folds over the (packed) tent or you couldn't drive at highway speeds. Or do you just leave the whole soft-top at home?

Somebody used to make a tonneau cover type soft-top for Blazers. That could be awesome with this concept, but I'm not sure how it would all hook together. It's too bad you can't swap the regular top for the tonneau top with the same track system. Then you could have any configuration you wanted.

 

[goathearder]

which model tent is that. i like how it fits under the soft top

This is a Tepui Kukenam tent. Really happy with the quality and ease of deployment thus far.

Can you still deploy the soft top over that? It looks like some of the soft top support has to be removed to make it work? Either way I like the low profile look and I bet functionally it's gotta be sweet

Yep, the soft top still fits over it when its all folded up. To deploy the tent I have to remove 1 of the roll cage side supports (you can see it on the ground next to the tire in one of the pics) and I have to un-pin the rear soft top support and move it forward and out of the way. I can also have the soft top completely folded and behind the tent at the tailgate.

Moving the softtop support is the only bit that's kind of a pain. Overall is takes 15-20 minutes to go from top up to tent deployed.

I like this solution, but wonder how you keep the water out of the interior when it rains. I've always liked RTTs on pickup beds because of the low profile. On top of SUV roofs, they seem to get beat on by every trail-side tree. I assume the soft-top still folds over the (packed) tent or you couldn't drive at highway speeds. Or do you just leave the whole soft-top at home?

Somebody used to make a tonneau cover type soft-top for Blazers. That could be awesome with this concept, but I'm not sure how it would all hook together. It's too bad you can't swap the regular top for the tonneau top with the same track system. Then you could have any configuration you wanted.

You have hit on exactly what I need to figure out next. Definitely no way to protect the cabin from rain right now. I have been wanting a bikini top for some time so I was thinking of getting a custom bikini and tonneau made that would protect the interior. I don't do a lot of camping in the rain but it would be nice for piece of mind. I was thinking something like those conversions for jeeps that put a bikini over the driver, tonneau over the back and vertical panel to connect them.


And here is another pic of it at an actual campground, hahahahahaha. Crab Flats in big bear from last weekend.